


Prompt 10 (Zhora/Polaris)

by Yoselin



Series: Starship Promise Tumblr Prompts [10]
Category: Starship Promise (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-27
Updated: 2018-08-27
Packaged: 2019-07-03 10:13:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15816819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yoselin/pseuds/Yoselin
Summary: Originally posted to Tumblr.“It’s lonely here without you.”





	Prompt 10 (Zhora/Polaris)

I lost track of the Promise crew as soon as the bass hit. The club’s strobing lights and beat pulses make it impossible to clear my head. Swarms of people all around me press against me from all sides. It is only the liquor glass in my hand that grounds me.   
Jaxon had insisted on coming here, said space chats praised this club, but this kind of thing is not my scene.   
I move past an alien moving in fluid motions to the beat and manage to find a small area in the club where the music isn’t harsh against my ears. A sigh of relief leaves my lips and I slip into the small area. Tucked to one corner, there is a seating lounge. Patrons laze on couches away from the swaying and pulsing of the dance floor.   
Away from the chaos and action of the crowd, I feel more at ease. I slip into an empty seat near an aquarium and watch the space fish swim about. My mind feels tired with the overload of being in a crowded place and I wish I had found Orion and Atlas. If anyone in the crew is feeling as out of place as I am, it’ll be them.   
The lounge area is quiet enough where I can distinguish nearby conversations. Space colonists talk about tv shows and the music selection in the area. Their chatter fades into the back of my mind as I try to burn the minutes before the Promise is ready to leave.   
I swirl my liquor glass around until the ice clacks against the sides. I am utterly bored and am wishing I had brought something to do with myself.   
Eventually, I close my eyes and lean back in my seat. Perhaps I can take a nap until my tablet pings with a message from the crew. I settle into a comfortable pose to fade from consciousness-  
But a nearby voice alerts me.   
Somewhere on the other side of the aquarium is a voice I recognize. I can’t truly see who the owner of the voice is, but I would recognize it anywhere.   
“...the kick isn’t that strong and it is capable of firing a few rounds per minute. It’s not a strong weapon by any means but it is enough to give you peace of mind.”  
My breath hitches and I angle my body towards the aquarium where a gap in the fishes gives me enough space to see a woman’s back. Her form is lounging against a couch and a tablet is propped on her knee. She is sliding her finger across a diagram of a weapon and talking to a presumable client as they examine a metal box.   
_Zhora._  
My body tenses as I recognize her. The arm’s dealer under the name of Polaris had not been friendly in our first few encounters. The Promise crew had shut down her illegal weapons business, but it seems like she had continued it anyway.   
I press myself as much as possible to the aquarium to watch the exchange.   
It goes by quickly from there. Credits are exchanged with pings and the metal briefcase is slid across the floor with one of Zhora’s legs. The client, a young woman wearing civilian clothing, thanks her profusely and slips the metal briefcase under her coat. She asks a few more questions, mainly on how to load and clean the weapon, before breezing past.   
She comes around the bend to where I am and I have to look away and pretend to be answering a message on my tablet. As soon as she’s gone, I bite my lip and turn back around.   
I am met with surprise. Zhora has stood from her seat and our eyes meet through the aquarium. Her mouth is quirked in an amused smirk and she raises her own drink against her lips.   
I freeze in place and wonder if I have enough time to duck out of view before she comes around the bend and slides into the seat opposite of me.   
“Well, hello, stranger. Long time no see,” Zhora greets. She crosses her legs at the knee and gives me an amused look.   
I tense and sink lower into my seat. “Zhora. You’re still selling.”  
She doesn’t try to hide her tablet still open to her online catalogue. The Promise had made her a deal and she had broken it. How many more weapons had she sold since we agreed to go our separate ways?  
“And I see you’re still running around with space pirates,” she calmly replies. With one hand, she closes her tablet hiding her website from view.   
A muscle on my cheek jumps. We had a deal.   
I say as much to her and clench my hand into a fist against the glass. Her weapon’s selling has put many people in danger. Now she has gone against her word and put more people at risk for her own ambition.   
Zhora clinks her glass around and uses her straw to move around some ice. She takes her sweet time answering me and I feel even more annoyed.   
“I never closed my business, but Polaris is gone. That was our deal. I don’t sell major weapons now,” she replies.   
My lips press together. I reach out to type a message out to the crew to warn them, but she speaks before I even have a chance to open the tab.   
“Relax, little star. The deal was I didn’t sell any major guns anymore, right? I’m not. I’m selling standard issue weapons. You have one yourself,” she nods at my hip.   
Sparky, my gun, rests against my jacket. Nova had suggested us bringing weapons since we were supposed to collect a bounty later. I move my jacket so that it is covered.   
“I’m a bounty hunter,” I argue.   
Zhora waves her hand and her mouth rises in another smirk. “And I’m a weapon’s dealer.”  
Silence ensues in which I tense. She looks like a pleased cat while I feel like a trapped canary.   
She reaches one leg out to me and gives me a light bump with it. I try to ignore the sparks I feel where our skin connects. Meeting her always has an effect on me.   
“What was that deal then? Selling weapons to people who don’t know how to use them,” I nod at the old chair she had occupied.   
Zhora examines her nails. I realize they are cut short and try to keep my mind on more innocent things and not on the fact that her very presence is electric. I am aware of every breath she takes and move she makes.   
When we had met, she had flirted shamelessly. Now, I have seemingly let that go to my head. An attraction has developed between us and I am intent on not acting on it.   
“My clients are people that need protection. That woman just escaped a nasty relationship with an Empire soldier. She needs something to give her a little more confidence. Is that so bad?” Zhora angles her head.   
I clench my jaw and look away. She knows that’s now what I mean. She knows just how to skew my thoughts.   
My tablet pings with a message and Orion is giving us a countdown of half an hour before we leave. I can’t tell whether I’m relieved to have our visit cut so soon or disappointed. For my sake, it better be the latter.   
“I shouldn’t be here with you,” I comment coldly. I really shouldn’t. Zhora isn’t exactly friends with my crew. Being seen together could really land me in hot water.   
Zhora flips her hair, dark blue and green waves falling across her shoulder, and blinks at me. She inches closer just until her knee is pressed against mine. Every action she makes seems deliberate. I don’t miss the edge of something in her gaze.   
“You shouldn’t,” she concedes. Her lips are still quirked in that smirk of hers. She knows she has an effect and she enjoys it.   
I glance back at the tablet. It is so tempting to text Orion back and tattle. He deserves to know that she has gone back on her word. I should tell him.   
Zhora pulls my glass from my grasp. She nods at the bar at the very back of the club. “How about I get you a drink?”  
“I really shouldn’t,” I bite my lip. Spending more time with Zhora is a mistake. The air between us is charged with something fiery and I am slowly opening up to her.   
Zhora winks at me, “ **It’s lonely here without you**.”  
I know she is flirting and her words aren’t worth the credits the arm’s deal gave her, but I still flush. Perhaps it is because she has brushed past me. Her hips sway from side to side and I know she is doing it on purpose. She wants me to lose my mind.   
Unfortunately, it’s working. I feel tingles of electricity under my skin and my mood begins to lift. The liquor on my tongue is chipping away at the irritation I felt before. My eyes drink the sight of her and I really like what I see.   
“Why?” I ask it because I need an answer. Why flirt with me? Why mess with my head?   
Zhora walks past me headed towards the bar. She glances back and our eyes meet. Her eyes are still burning with something dangerous. She knows hanging out with her is forbidden in my crew’s code. She knows the crew won’t be happy if they see us together. She knows she’s risking them finding out she’s still selling.   
Yet she doesn’t care. Her smile widens into something more alluring. She looks like a vision as she walks away from me. The strobe lights are illuminating her form and she walks like a powerful goddess descended.   
“Why not?” She answers back. She disappears around the dance floor still on her hunt for alcohol.   
I bite my lip and glance at the tablet. The message box is still open. I could still text Orion and tell him...  
But I close the tablet instead. A few minutes with Zhora won’t hurt. What the crew doesn’t know won’t kill them.   
I rest back against my chair and await for her return. A blush paints my cheeks and there are pulses of electricity under my skin. Things are more exciting when we’re together   
So why not?


End file.
